Best high school experience/assignment

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>ATTENTION all high school students!!! </p>

<p>I'm a recent college graduate who is now a student teacher and I want to open this question up to anyone who went to high school! </p>

<p>What is your favorite assignment or experience you had in high school in the classroom? Did you have an awesome teacher that taught you something you still remember to this day? </p>

<p>If you are still in high school, you can also answer this question by telling me some of your favorite activities, assignments, experiences you had in your last middle school years. </p>

<p>If you never had a good teacher or a good experience and you want to help me change the way school is taught, tell me what YOU would have done or taught and HOW you would do it to make class fun and exciting for you. </p>

<p>This will help me extremely because the last thing I want to be is a boring teacher that everyone dreads going to class to. Thanks and much is appreciated!</p>

<p>Also, please be as detailed as you can when you describe your favorite activity, assignment, experience. Thanks. ^_^</p>

2

<p>Hmmm. My favorite assignment so far was probably an ethnography paper I had to write for a college-in-the-schools class. We had to pick a "sub-culture" and "study" it--visit it at least 10 times, interview the people in it, etc. I picked an entirely Hispanic Catholic church (I'm white, though fluent in Spanish, and not all religious) and ended up having one of the most amazing experiences of my life with the people there. I am still in contact with the priest a year later.</p>

<p>My favorite teacher so far (I'm a senior) was my freshman Spanish teacher. She was smart as a whip, tough, and really funny and sarcastic and you could tell how intensely she cared about her students because she never let anybody fail. Never. I've never had a class that's as hard or a teacher that's as brilliant as she is.</p>

3

<p>Although this wasn't really in middle school, my favorite projects/assignments have been the ones that I have been able to design myself. Many times in certain classes, after we completed a lesson, the teacher gave the class the opportunity to choose what the assignment would be, with a rubric, of course.</p>

<p>My favorite* assignment so far was for Dante's Inferno, where we had to make our own version of the Inferno. Some students made videos (I did), others made posters, paintings, models and figures or expressed their project through an artistic form. </p>

<p>And to partially answer your other question, I usually retain more in a class according to the teacher's degree of outrageousness and enthusiasm (both negative and positive). </p>

<p>*omitting the class specific projects like robotics (building robots) and multimedia (web design)</p>

4

<p>National History Day
every year starting in 8th grade.</p>

<p>oh yeah and don't try to be an easy teacher just so kids will like you. Especially if you are teaching an AP or Honors class because then the students really want to learn and get good grades. Teachers that are hard but can teach are more respected and admired than easy teachers that don't do anything. Also, be flexible with due dates and such and understand that kids have a lot of stuff going on. Like be firm withg etting assignments on time, but if a kid approaches you about needing more time, don't be an idiot abouit it</p>

5

<p>"Write a five-page paper on anything you want."</p>

<p>Pwn.</p>

6

<p>Don't be completely anal about work. Don't mark us down because our parabolas aren't curvy enough. You should be grading kids on whether or not they know the material. I've had teachers who've marked students down for write name-hour-date instead of name-date-hour. </p>

<p>Also understand that a lot of kids have medical issues, problems at home, etc., and this can often be mistaken as laziness. I can speak from personal experience. If a kid suddenly starts not doing homework or missing a lot of school, talk to him before you just assume he's a slacker. </p>

<p>My favorite assignments are creative/arty projects, but a lot of people hate these, so it's fun to give students a choice. My English teacher gives us the choice of writing a script, making a storyboard, writing an essay, shooting a video, writing a poem, etc. for our book reports.</p>

<p>AND DON'T PUT THE "SMART KID" WITH YOUR THREE WORST STUDENTS FOR GROUP PROJECTS. It's just evil. Let us pick our own groups or put the good students with other good students, because a lot of the "bad" students won't do the work if they know the smart kid will be able to put their weight.</p>

<p>If you don't want to be boring, don't make us take an unbearable amount of notes on things like, "If people have more money, will they buy more or less goods." I have a teacher who always writes this on the board and tells us to write it down, but he doesn't write down the answer. It's very strange, but luckily everything he teaches us is stuff that anyone with even a pinch of common sense can figure out even when they're coloring in a coloring book/doing sudoku all hour. </p>

<p>Don't tell us all democrats are liars.</p>

<p>Don't tell us that if everyone had a religion, there would be no more problems in the world.</p>

<p>Don't be so overly enthusiastic that it's taken as being creepy.</p>

7

<p>second everthing eileennosaurus said</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
Don't tell us all democrats are liars.

[/quote]

Or Republicans.</p>

<p>Anyway, the best teachers at my school are the ones that are in control of their classes. They might get give an extra day for a tough assignment, but they don't take late work. And students don't even bother to act stupid cause they know they will get in trouble.
And kids either like the teacher or think that the teacher hates them and their bad grades are because the teacher is out to get them (it couldn't possibly be their own fault).</p>

9

<p>totally agree with alamode...don't be easy just to be accepted by the students. easy teachers never get any real respect and only get taken advantaged of by the students.</p>

<p>even if you are hard, but you TEACH the material well, the students will respect you. </p>

<p>Also, please do not be like the teachers who are so stubbon and NEVER admit that they made a mistake.</p>

10

<p>I agree with everything said above. Be yourself. We can tell when you're faking or trying too hard, and my favorite teachers have been ones who are completely and utterly themselves, no matter how outrageous. You want to be fun, but don't be too crazy, or we won't like you, we'll just make fun of you. Don't be too sensitive. I have hated even my favorite teachers (or their assignments) at one point or another; it's going to happen. I agree very much, don't be too picky, and please remember what you do or don't say to a class. There's nothing worse than getting yelled at for an assignment that was not explained, or a test that wasn't announced, or material that wasn't covered. Be flexible, too. If everyone, even your best students, seem overly stressed with a project or assignment, give them more time. If your class tells you you did something wrong, forgot something, or didn't tell them something, believe them. Don't be afraid to change your gameplan in the middle of the year if something's not working. NEVER take out your personal problems on your students. Teachers who have done this to my classes often found it hard to regain their trust and respect. Encourage all questions, no matter how many times you've gone over something. You may be far behind, but if that student genuinely doesn't understand they have a right to ask. My favorite teachers have been excited, fun, and enthusiastic about teaching, and it shines through. Just be yourself and have fun with it, and your students will love you.</p>

11

<p>I don't think that teachers should do anything to indicate which political party they suppport. I just said, "Don't tell us all democrats are liars," because I've had a teacher who actually said just that. I also have a teacher who is always saying, "Sarkozy is the devil, because he supports Bush blah blah blah," and I'm offended by her as well. Educators, especially at this level, should be neutral and just give us the resources to form our own opinions.</p>

12

<p>My favorite assignment was watching "The Matrix", dismantling it, and writing a analytical essay on the Philosophy behind the movie.</p>

13

<p>Thank you for all your responses! It has helped me greatly. Anyone who comes to this page- can you please post something--even a few words about a great assignment? Thanks. You don't have to write much.</p>

14

<p>Well my favorite high school experience was when I was at this crazy party and I was with my girlfriend in a parents bedroom. Then her best friend walked in and...</p>

<p>O wait, wrong thread sorry. </p>

<p>Just be yourself.</p>

15

<p>Oh, my favorite experience, hands down:</p>

<p>Junior year, when we started The Crucible, we walk in to find that our teacher had turned our classroom into a Puritan church...dead silent, no light except for candles, HUGE Bibles everywhere, etc. Someone makes a comment and we all laugh, and she tells us we're possessed and going to hell.</p>

<p>The next class meeting she pulls me aside and tells me that she's going to tell the rest of the class that I complained to the administration about her and her career was in jeopardy, to give us a taste of mass-hysteria.</p>

<p>My favorite assignment:</p>

<p>"Creative writing assignment: must be at least one page in length. Any style or type of writing you want. Due in one week."</p>

<p>Best teacher I ever had...both of those from the same teacher. ^_^</p>

16

<p>HisGraceFillsMe, I want that teacher!!!</p>

17

<p>She's amazing.</p>

<p>We were fortunate enough to have her for two years...10th grade when we did Animal Farm, we were a Communist classroom. No jewelry or brand names of any kind allowed, and it culminated in her being such a ruthless dictator that we walked out in protest (It wasn't a real walk-out but it was just to prove a point)...and the administrators happened to be standing outside when we did it. XD</p>

<p>But yeah, best class I ever had. It's funny because she's very small (probably about 5'2", 110 lbs if even that much) but she has NO problem controlling her classroom.</p>

<p>I'm a teacher's aide for her this year, I love it. ^_^</p>

18

<p>Have them analyze the meaning of a song of their choice.</p>

19

<p>southeastitan--</p>

<pre><code> What would you do if you're the teacher? Anything you would do differently?
</code></pre>